Jim Rosica
State Sens. Gwen Margolis and Miguel Diaz de la Portilla have filed their own versions of state Senate district maps, according to the chamber’s redistricting website.
Margolis, a Miami Democrat, and Diaz de la Portilla, a Coral Gables Republican, submitted maps on Monday afternoon. Margolis filed one; Diaz de la Portilla turned in four.
For details on those maps, click here.
Those maps are intended to contend with the map favored by Senate Reapportionment Committee Chairman Bill Galvano, and another five filed Sunday by state Sen. Oscar Braynon II, a Miami Gardens Democrat.
The latest maps could be considered as amendments as the Senate begins taking up redistricting on the floor Tuesday, with a possible vote Wednesday.
That would send the Senate map to the House for consideration. The Special Session for Senate redistricting is set to end Nov. 6.
The Legislature is now in the second week of a three-week Special Session to redraw the state’s 40 senatorial districts.
It is doing so after settling a lawsuit that its current map was gerrymandered for Republicans and incumbents. The Senate settled the case by admitting that the map was gerrymandered, or improperly drawn for political purposes.
Galvano clarified last week that all senators will most likely have to run again for their seats next year, saying it “probably (is) a legal reality at this point.”
Editor’s note: Check here later; if further maps are submitted Monday, we’ll add them here.
4:30 p.m. update: Diaz de la Portilla filed an additional map, bringing his total to five, and state Sen. Jeff Clemens, a Lake Worth Democrat, filed one map later Monday, bringing his total submitted maps to six.
